Rep. Bishop sees vote lead evaporate

New York Rep. Tim Bishop (D), who was declared the winner of his reelection race by The Associated Press, is expected to ask for a full recount Monday after seeing his vote lead turn into a deficit.

Bishop is poised to petition a Suffolk County judge to order a full hand recount of the 1st district race, for which unofficial returns show him trailing Republican Randy Altschuler by 383 votes, according to Newsday.

Bishop had a 3,461-vote lead on Election Day that was switched to a slim edge for Altschuler after a recanvassing of the voting machines.

In an e-mail to supporters on Saturday, Bishop noted there were still 10,600 absentee and affidavit ballots that haven’t been counted. He asked for donations to help with a “lengthy and costly” recount.

“Suffolk County residents insisted on having a paper backup in the new machines to document every vote, and these circumstances demand we recount them all,” Bishop said in the e-mail.